KABUL/KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, April 5 (Reuters) -
A fghanistan's presidential election closed on Saturday amid
relief that attacks by Taliban fighters were fewer than feared
for a vote that will bring the first-ever democratic transfer of
power in a country plagued by conflict for decades.

It will take six weeks for results to come in from across
Afghanistan's rugged terrain and a final result to be declared
in the race to succeed President Hamid Karzai.

This could be the beginning of a potentially dangerous
period for Afghanistan at a time when the war-ravaged country
desperately needs a leader to stem rising violence as foreign
troops prepare to leave.

"Today we proved to the world that this is a people driven
country," Karzai, wearing his trademark green robe and a
lambskin hat, told his nation in televised remarks.

"On behalf of the people, I thank the security forces,
election commission and people who exercised democracy and ...
turned another page in the glorious history of Afghanistan."

One of the eight candidates will have to score over 50
percent of the vote to avoid a run-off with his nearest rival.

The Taliban threat to wreck the vote through bombings and
assassination failed to materialise, and violent incidents were
on a far smaller scale than feared.

Turnout was seven million out of 12 million eligible voters,
or about 58 percent, according to preliminary estimates,
election commission chief Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani told reporters.

That was well above the 4.5 million who voted at the last
election in 2009 which was marred by widespread fraud.

"I am here to vote and I am not afraid of any attacks," said
Haji Ramazan as he stood in line at a polling station in
rain-drenched Kabul. "This is my right, and no one can stop me."

In Washington, President Barack Obama congratulated the
Afghan people on the elections.

"We commend the Afghan people, security forces, and
elections officials on the turnout for today's vote - which is
in keeping with the spirited and positive debate among
candidates and their supporters in the run-up to the election,"
Obama said in a statement.

"These elections are critical to securing Afghanistan's
democratic future, as well as continued international support,
and we look to the Afghan electoral bodies to carry out their
duties in the coming weeks to adjudicate the results - knowing
that the most critical voices on the outcome are those of
Afghans themselves," Obama said.

The United States could point to the advance of democracy in
one of the world's most violent countries as a success as it
prepares to withdraw the bulk of its troops this year.

It has spent $90 billion on aid and security training since
helping Afghan forces to topple a strict Islamist Taliban regime
in 2001, but U.S. support for Afghanistan's fight against the
Taliban has faded.

As U.S. troops get ready to go home, the Taliban threat and
uncertainty over neighbour Pakistan's intentions leave the worry
that Afghanistan could enter a fresh cycle of violence, and once
again become a haven for groups like al Qaeda.

The United States has been at odds with Karzai who has
refused U.S. entreaties to sign a bilateral security agreement
that would permit about 8,000 U.S. troops to remain in the
country after the formal U.S. withdrawal at the end of the year.

U.S. officials are keeping open the option of leaving behind
a troop contingent for training Afghan forces and for a
counter-terrorism mission if an agreement can be signed later
this year by Karzai's successor.

"The United States remains ready to work with the next
president of Afghanistan. We will continue to stand with the
people of Afghanistan as they work to build a democratic
future," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.

During Saturday's election, there were dozens of reports of
minor roadside bombs, attacks on polling stations, police and
voters. In the eastern province of Kunar alone, two voters died
and 14 were wounded, while 14 Taliban militants were killed.

Interior Minister Umer Daudzai said nine policemen, seven
soldiers, 89 Taliban fighters were killed in the past 24 hours
across the country, adding that four civilians were also killed.

Dozens died in a spate of attacks in the preceding weeks.
A veteran Associated Press photographer was killed and a senior
correspondent of the same news agency was wounded on Friday when
a policeman opened fire on the two women in the east as they
reported on preparations for the poll.

KABUL SEALED OFF

Most people had expected the election to be better run than
the chaotic 2009 vote that handed Karzai a second term.

The constitution barred Karzai from seeking another term.
But, after 12 years in power, he is widely expected to retain
influence through politicians loyal to him.

Former foreign ministers Abdullah Abdullah and Zalmay
Rassoul, and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani were regarded
as the favourites to succeed
Karzai.

More than 350,000 Afghan troops were deployed, guarding
against attacks on polling stations and voters. The capital,
Kabul, was sealed off by rings of roadblocks and checkpoints.

In the city of Kandahar, cradle of the Taliban insurgency,
the mood was tense. Vehicles were not allowed to move on the
roads and checkpoints were set up at every intersection.

Hamida, a 20-year-old teacher working at a Kandahar polling
station, said more than a dozen women turned up in the first two
hours of voting and added that she expected more to come despite
the threat of an attack by the Taliban.

"We are trying not to think about it," she said, only her
honey-brown eyes visible through her black niqab.

Raising questions about the legitimacy of the vote even
before it began, the election commission announced that at least
10 percent of polling stations were expected to be shut due to
security threats, and most foreign observers left Afghanistan in
the wake of a deadly attack on a hotel in Kabul last month.

In some areas of the country voters complained that polling
stations had run out of ballot papers. The interior ministry
said six officials - including an intelligence agent - were
detained for trying to rig the vote, and elsewhere several
people were arrested for trying to use fake voter cards.

RISK OF DELAY

If there is no outright winner, the two frontrunners would
go into a run-off on May 28, spinning out the process into the
holy month of Ramadan when life slows to a crawl.

A long delay would leave little time to complete a pact
between Kabul and Washington to keep up to 10,000 U.S. troops in
the country beyond 2014.

Karzai has rejected the pact, but the three frontrunners
have pledged to sign it. Without the pact, far weaker Afghan
forces would be left on their own to fight the Taliban.

The election is a landmark after 13 years of struggle that
has killed at least 16,000 Afghan civilians and thousands more
soldiers. Nearly 3,500 members of the U.S.-led coalition force
have died since deployment in the country over a decade ago.

Karzai's relations with the United States became
increasingly strained as Afghan casualties mounted. He also
voiced frustration with Washington over a lack of pressure on
Pakistan to do more to stop the Taliban based in the
borderlands.

Although his departure marks a turning point, none of his
would-be successors would bring radical change, diplomats say.

"Whether the election will be the great transformative event
that everybody expects is, I think, delusional." Sarah Chayes, a
South Asia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace told a media briefing on the eve of the vote.
(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi in KABUL; Sarwar Amani
in KANDAHAR, Steve Holland and Arshad Mohammed in WASHINGTON;
Writing by John Chalmers and Maria Golovnina; Editing by Simon
Cameron-Moore and Gunna Dickson)